


Five Times Avantika Thought Favorably of Jester, and One Time She Was Nice to Someone Else

by tambuli



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Popstar, Alternate Universe - Supermodel, Avantika is a supermodel, F/F, Fjord is a rising Hollywood twunk, I repeat: IMPLIED!!!!!! nothing super bad happens!!!!!! the asshole is punched!!!, Implied pedophilia, Jester is Taylor Swift, Mentions of Taylor Swift, Song: Come in With the Rain (Taylor Swift), Song: Enchanted (Taylor Swift), Song: Mary's Song (Oh My My My) (Taylor Swift), creepy guy at a bar, implied assault, taylor swift au, truly an excuse to indulge in my taylor swift obsession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 12:06:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18756133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tambuli/pseuds/tambuli
Summary: Avantika is a supermodel, a Victoria's Secret Angel, who dated Fjord.Then Jester, Hollywood royalty and newbie singer, dated Fjord.How on Earth did those two fall in love?A little something like this.





	Five Times Avantika Thought Favorably of Jester, and One Time She Was Nice to Someone Else

**Author's Note:**

  * For [videogamedoc87](https://archiveofourown.org/users/videogamedoc87/gifts).



**1.**

_He always did like the pretty ones_ , was Avantika Delmare’s first thought when she saw the paparazzi shots of her ex-boyfriend Fjord with his new squeeze. And the new girl really did look good: warm brown skin that was definitely not spray tan or bronzer, different tones of blue rippling in her shoulder-length hair, a seemingly genuine laugh on her lips as she giggled at whatever Fjord was saying at the moment. Such a pretty mouth, too: sparkly pink lip gloss, as if the new girl hadn’t gotten the memo that mattes were in now. Avantika would have shrugged, if Avantika was the kind of woman to shrug.

She checked the caption, and one immaculately plucked red eyebrow rose in surprise. Jester Lavorre? As in Marion Lavorre, Hollywood royalty?

A quick Google search proved her right: this was Marion Lavorre’s little girl, Jessica, who was last in the public eye fifteen years ago as a chubby-cheeked child star with blonde pigtails and braces. Then there was a bit of a scandal with a stalker or some such, and the child had been withdrawn from Hollywood to protect her. Avantika didn’t recall exactly—fifteen years ago she was beginning her modeling career, and simply didn’t have time for that nonsense.

Looks like ugly duckling had grown up, dyed her hair, and changed her name. Avantika could understand: who wanted to be named _Jessica_?

She flicked past the tweet, and another eyebrow joined the first. And the new girl was a singer, too? Interesting.

Well, more power to them then. A cute Texan twunk whose star was on the rise, and a pretty rich singer (regardless of whether she could actually sing) with a famous actress mother? Truly the next Brangelina.

“Avantika? They’re ready for you,” her personal assistant Vera said, coming into the room. Avantika rose from the couch upon which she’d lounged, flicking her freshly-straightened red hair out of her face.

“Thank you, Vera.”

As she clack-clack-clacked to the shoot location, her mind wandered back to Jester Lavorre’s blue hair.

It really was very pretty. She considered looking up the stylist.

Then she was slipping into lingerie and smizing at the camera, and the thought slipped from her mind completely.

 

**2.**

The next she thought about Jester Lavorre, it was in the back of a limo, being driven to yet another glimmering glamorous Hollywood “intimate get-together”, and it was because she’d told her driver Jamedi to “find a good radio station” and he’d landed on one that was playing a surprisingly nice little country-sounding song.

Avantika didn’t pretend to know music, or understand the difference between a ballad and—some other song type—but she rather liked the sound of this one. **_Take me back when our world was one block wide, I dared you to kiss me and ran when you tried. Just two kids, you and I…_**

It was pretty, it was nostalgic, it was evocative of a cute childhood romance that Avantika had never personally experienced but nevertheless found sweet. It was a kind of genuine that she hadn’t heard in a while.

On impulse she said, “Jamedi, who sang that song?”

Jamedi answered instantly, “Jester Lavorre, ma’am.”

 _Jester Lavorre, hmm?_ “You answered that very quickly, Jamedi. Are you a fan?”

Jamedi’s back was to Avantika, but she saw the tips of his ears blush. “She’s a good singer, ma’am.”

She listened to Jester Lavorre croon **_I’ll be eighty-seven you’ll be eighty-nine, I’ll still look at you like the stars that shine_**. Was this how Fjord made Jester Lavorre feel? How strange. Fjord hadn’t made her feel much of anything, in any and every way, but he had been cute and charming and earnest, so she had decided _Why not_?

Was this what Fjord could inspire in a girl such as Jester Lavorre? Hmm.

“A good singer. Yes. Yes, she rather is, isn’t she?”

She made a note to buy the girl’s album once she got home.

 

**3.**

“Can I buy you a drink, Jessica? To take your mind off the breakup?”

“No, thank you. And it’s Jester.”

“I’m only concerned; you seemed to like Fjord so much. That song was so heart-wrenching! And a pretty girl like you shouldn’t be at a bar alone.”

Avantika’s ears perked up, and she swiveled to see a middle-aged man she vaguely remembered from other parties. He was standing much closer to Jester Lavorre than was completely necessary, touching her arm in an overly familiar manner. Jester herself was on a bar stool, nursing a glass and looking very uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry; I don’t know you at all.”

“Really? Oh, I’m wounded!” The man raised a hand to his heart in a dramatic fashion. Avantika mentally rolled her eyes. “You don’t remember me? Rob Sharp? I’m one of your mother’s friends!”

A light flicked on in Jester’s blue eyes. “Rob Sharp? Robert Sharp?”

“The very one!” Rob Sharp beamed. “Has Marion mentioned me? She has, of course, hasn’t she?”

Jester shoved his hand off her arm and stood up. “Don’t touch me.”

“Jessica—”

Rob Sharp moved to cage her in against the bar counter. Avantika sprang up; in a moment she was at Jester’s side, shoving Rob Sharp back.

“I believe,” she said icily, “that she said _not to touch her_.”

Rob Sharp looked at her, and his mediocre white man face contorted into a painful smile. “Avantika Delmare,” he said. “So good to see you!”

Avantika didn’t falter. “I think you should go, Mr. Sharp. You’re not wanted here.”

“You don’t understand, Jessica and I were just having a little catch-up, we’re old friends.” He twisted past Avantika, and forcibly took Jester’s hand, holding it up to Avantika as if to prove their friendship.

“We are most definitely _not_ friends,” Jester snarled, and wrenching out of his grasp, drew her fist back and punched him in the nose.

Later, when security had hauled Rob Sharp away, and Avantika had corroborated Jester’s story that Rob Sharp had been harassing her, Jester turned to Avantika.

“Hey, uh, thank you for earlier.”

Avantika felt a smile curl on her lips, and she let it, knowing how dangerous it would look with such a shade of lipstick as the one she wore right now. “You are welcome, though honestly it does not seem like you needed much help, no? That was a very good punch.”

“It was, wasn’t it? I’m _pre_ -tty good at self-defense,” Jester giggled, flicking her blue hair behind her shoulder. The roots were beginning to grow in blonde again, Avantika noticed. The imperfection was oddly charming.

“Anyway, I’m Jester!”

“I know who you are,” Avantika said blandly. Jester’s face fell.

“Because of the song, right?”

It wasn’t an unreasonable assumption, and Avantika acknowledged that. The “Fjorester” breakup had been everywhere for the past few weeks. Though the parting had seemed amicable, citing “wanting different things” on Jester’s side and “going separate paths” on Fjord’s, the flame had been fanned with Jester’s new single _Come in With the Rain_ , in which, among other things, Jester sang **_I’ve got you down, I know you by heart, and you don’t even know where I start_** and **_I could go back to every laugh but I don’t wanna go there anymore_**.

Fans and antis of Fjord, Jester, and Fjorester jumped on the song, frothing at the mouth and dissecting every lyric. Some said Jester was blaming Fjord. Some people said it wasn’t Jester’s fault Fjord was emotionally unavailable. Some said Jester shouldn’t have aired their dirty laundry like that, and it was an immature, childish gesture.

The media coverage had been exhausting for Avantika to read, and she imagined it was doubly or even triply exhausting for the young woman in front of her.

Avantika’s pause made Jester’s face fall, and she turned away. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she muttered.

“No, it was not because of the song,” Avantika said, then corrected herself. “At least, not because of the recent song. I have listened to your music since your debut album.”

Jester turned back to Avantika, eyes wide. “You mean—you—you _listen to—_ ”

“Really, Jester,” Avantika said dryly. “You put out music for people to consume, and are surprised when people consume it?”

Jester waved her hands wildly in the air, saying, “But you’re—you’re! Your eyeliner is _so sharp it could kill a man_ and you’re—you’re Avantika Delmare!”

Avantika was enjoying this hugely. “Can Avantika Delmare, owner of eyeliner so sharp it could kill a man, not enjoy quality music?”

Jester’s eyes were very wide.

Avantika laughed. “Oh, Jester, you are a delight. _C'était enchanté de vous rencontrer_.”

She turned to go. It was a classic tactic she employed—be mysterious, alluring, _French_ , and leave on a high note so that they would want more.

Why she was employing the tactic on her ex-boyfriend’s ex—that was an entirely different question.

“Wait!” Jester blurted. “Can I buy you a drink?”

_Hook, line, and sinker._

Avantika turned, and if she angled herself so that the light would catch on her very dangerous eyeliner, well, Jester would never know.

“That would be _très bon._ ”

 

**4.**

**@fjocusedonfjord** tweeted: Ugh. Have you guys seen **@avantika** ’s new shoot? T R A S H Y . So that’s why **@TheRealFjord** broke up with her.

 **@fjorking** replied: Ikr? What Fjord really needs is someone who’ll love him for him and not use him for his fame.

 **@fjocusedonfjord** replied: *eyes emoji* Shh, don’t let the jes/ter/natics hear you!

 

 **@c0meinwdr4in** tweeted: First photo: A beautiful, classy, elegant kween. Second photo: **@avantika**. Clearly we can see who the better choice is.

 **@maryss0ng** replied: I mean, on one hand you have **@JesterL** , on the other we have an aging, irrelevant woman who takes her clothes off for a living. *shrugs*

 

 **@avanstan** tweeted: Did Avantika gain weight???

 

Avantika tossed her phone down in disgust.

The shoots in preparation for this year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show had just been released, and just as she’d been anticipating, a flood of opinions crashed down into her Twitter notifications. As the longest-running Angel, management hadn’t told her how to handle the hate, assuming she already knew how. And she did—it was mostly _ignore, ignore, ignore._

Not block. Blocking just gave them validation.

She was used to this. She didn’t care. For a moment she envisioned herself jumping into a pile of hundred-dollar bills like children jumped into leaf piles, and the thought made her quirk a lip.

But dragging Jester and Fjord into the whole thing? That left a bad taste in her mouth.

Well, no. What truly left a bad taste in her mouth was how the whole “Fjorestika” love triangle was playing out. She’d had nothing to do with Fjord after the breakup—either theirs or his with Jester—and yet people still came into her mentions accusing her of masterminding the breakup, or comparing her to Jester.

A few days ago, someone had even (and this one made her snort into her coffee) said she used Fjord’s fame to get ahead.

 _Darling_ , she thought about tweeting back, _I was famous long before you even knew Fjord’s name._

Common sense prevailed, and she didn’t tweet it, but she did text a screenshot of the tweet and her aborted reply to Jester. Jester had replied with laughing-crying emojis, a truly astounding number of hearts, and about a dozen exclamation points.

 _You should have done it !!!!! ! ! !!_ Jester texted after. _It would have been ICONIC._

_My dear, I am already an icon._

_True, correct, and valid. Do u want donuts, I’m in the shop rn and I can drop some off for u ??? R u at the shoot loc rn???_

_You eat entirely too many donuts, Jester._

_Is that a yes???? That’s totally a yes, I’m gonna get u like,,, chocolate or something_

_Bavarian, please._

_Ur so gross_

_Are you in disguise? Are you safe?_

_Weeeellllllllll not disguise-disguise but like,,, yasha?? my bodyguard, do u remember her??? is w me so its all good_

_Text me when you arrive, and I will send Vera out to fetch you._

Indeed Jester had arrived, bearing boxes and boxes of donuts and a huge, sparkling smile. She had waved hi to all the other Angels, then, upon seeing Avantika, thrown herself bodily into a hug that was more a football tackle.

“Avantika!!!!!” she’d cried out. “It is _super_ good to see you, I missed you!!”

“I missed you too, Jester.” She kissed Jester’s hair. Jester was not a short woman, but Avantika was tall and she was wearing four-inch heels.

Jester nuzzled into the embrace (and thus, into Avantika’s breasts), then released her. “Wow!!! You look super good!! The color sets you off so well!!!”

Avantika looked down at the vibrantly scarlet lingerie she was wearing. “Thank you, petit saphir, for thinking I look good in my underwear.”

Jester turned a furious pink, but she soldiered on: “Of course you do!!! You’re like, paid to do this, and you do it really really well! I’m so excited for the show!”

“So am I,” Avantika said. “I secured your seat already; I hope you do not mind sitting near Astrid Blumenthal?”

“ASTRID BLUMENTHAL????? Avantika you’re the BEST!!!!”

As Jester jumped on Avantika for another hug, and peppered kisses all over her cheeks in thanks, Avantika felt another smile curl on her lips.

She hadn’t smiled nearly this much in years, and it was all because of Jester.

The memory of Jester’s happiness was nice, but then her phone buzzed and her mood soured as she saw even more “Discourse” over the ethics of modeling and the commodification of women’s bodies, oh and _also_ maybe it was time for Avantika Delmare to retire from modeling? She was about to toss the phone back on her bed when it buzzed yet again:

 

 **@JesterL** tweeted: **@avantika** you look FANTASTIC as always ily!! Looking forward to seeing the show. I know you’ll slé. (Get it?? It’s French!!!!)

 

Against her will, Avantika laughed, and her heart was light as she tweeted back:

 

 **@avantika** replied: It’s really not, petit saphir, but I appreciate the sentiment, and return it to you. See you soon!

**5.**

_Hey avantika_

_Yes?_

_I have a new song and I wanted u to hear it first?? Before I lock it in for the new album???? I mean. The producers and stuff have heard it but. Ur the first person-person to hear it. If u want_

_I would be delighted._

_Ok r u at home? U need to be at home bec if u like…play it outside or sth someone could hear it before it’s supposed 2 be heard. It’s not 100% done yet!!! I think we’ll add in more synth or sth idk!! But still!!!!!_

_Yes. It will be safe, Jester. Don’t worry._

_Ok I’m emailing u the .mp3. Text me when ur done listening 2 it_

            Email from: jesterlavorre  
            Subject: new song  
            Attachment: enchanted_final.mp3

 

Avantika clicked on the attachment, expecting to hear music filter through her phone’s speaker. Instead, the .mp3 opened with a monologue by Jester:

“My whole life has been ruled by fear. When I was a little girl, I was scared to go on-cam and act, because I thought I wasn’t good at it. And then after, my mom was scared to let me out of the house, because someone might hurt me, because someone did hurt me, and her. I wanted to be free so bad, _so bad._

“And then one day the person who hurt me when I was little, came back to hurt me again. And I was scared again? But then someone held him back, and I found within myself the strength to tell him I wasn’t going to be hurt by him again. And I _made him_ not hurt me again. I had it in me the whole time, you know? I just needed someone to help me a little.

That’s an entirely different song _entirely._ This song is different. This song is about the night I met that someone. That someone who makes me feel like magic, but also like I’m safe.”

And then the music started.

            **_There I was again tonight, forcing laughter faking smiles, same old tired and lonely place. Walls of insincerity, shifting eyes and vacancy, vanished when I saw your face. And all I can say is it was enchanting to meet you._**

**_[…]_ **

**_This night is sparkling, don't you let it go. I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home. I'll spend forever wondering if you knew—This night is flawless, don't you let it go. I'm wonderstruck, dancing around all alone. I'll spend forever wondering if you knew: I was enchanted to meet you._ **

**_Please don’t be in love with someone else, please don’t have somebody waiting on you._ **

****

Avantika’s entire body was hot, then cold—there was a roaring in her ears, she could hear nothing but Jester’s voice—a thousand conversations flashed in her mind, Jester’s embraces and Avantika kissing her head, there was nothing in her mind but Jester Jester _Jester—_

With shaking hands she typed into her phone: _I am finished._

There was a knock on her door.

Heart beating in her throat, she sprang up and opened it—

And there she was, Jester, smiling shyly, holding an open box of Bavarian donuts, because of course she was, because Jester, darling Jester, mon coeur Jester, her heart, her happiness, was nothing if not a donut-obsessed person—

“So, uh,” Jester said, trembling but looking Avantika straight in the eye, “What do you think? Did you like it?"

Carefully, Avantika took the box, closed it, and set it on the coffee table.

Then she was pulling Jester into her arms, and pressing her to her heart, and kissing _yes yes yes_ into that beautiful mouth.

 

**And 1.**

_He always did like the pretty ones_ , was Avantika’s first thought when she saw the paparazzi shots of her ex-boyfriend Fjord with his new squeeze. And the new girl? Boy? _Person_ , she decided, really was very pretty: generously applied body glitter, gorgeous purple gradient eye shadow, an impish quirk to the lavender lips as they smirked at whatever Fjord was saying. And the _coat_! Rich purple-and-gold embroidery snaked across the red material, and the blue lining set off all the colors perfectly. Honestly, Avantika thought, the entire ensemble shouldn’t have worked, except on the new squeeze it did.

“Avantika?” Jester murmured sleepily. “Where did you go?”

Avantika turned, and against her will a smile bloomed on her mouth.

Jester in the morning was a sight—messy blonde and blue hair spread all over the white pillows, freckles still unconcealed by her makeup routine. Avantika spied some love bites blooming on her girlfriend’s brown skin, and her satisfaction was sharp in her chest.

 “Just for coffee,” Avantika said, holding up her mug as proof. Jester made grabby hands, and she obliged, only for Jester to wrinkle her nose at the black coffee in the mug.

“Eurgh. No thanks.”

“Your monstrosity of cream and sugar isn’t coffee _,_ petit saphir, it’s blasphemy.”

“Nyeh nyeh,” Jester responded maturely. Then she sat up, spying the photos on Avantika’s phone. “Oh, is that Fjord?”

Avantika handed the phone over. “And someone new. It seems he has moved on from you _._ ”

“Oh, please,” Jester dismissed, waving her hand. “I’ve moved on from him, it’s only fair. Oh, it’s Molly! Oh my gosh, it’s Molly, that’s so _cool,_ Avantika.”

“You are familiar with her? Him?”

“Them,” Jester said. “Molly was Fjord’s roommate in college, I met them a few times before, they were always super sweet to me. And to Fjord, I guess. Oh, maybe that’s why! Molly was secretly in love with Fjord _the whole time_! Oh my gosh, that’s _so romantic._ And sad, but they got together now so it’s okay!”

“Are you going to write a song about them?”

“I could!!!!! Oh my gosh. That would be _so great_ actually, Molly would be pining over Fjord and Fjord keeps dating the wrong women until he finally comes to his senses and dates the person that he was supposed to be dating all along!!!!”

Jester made as if she was about to climb out of bed and rush to her studio _right now_. As the sheets fell away from her body, Avantika raised an eyebrow.

“Right this moment, mon coeur? Truly?”

At Avantika’s predatory look, Jester gulped.

Avantika set down the coffee, and pushed her girlfriend back down on the bed.

Later, as Jester strummed her guitar and scowled at lyrics that would not cooperate, Avantika looked at the photos of Fjord and Molly again.

“You always did like the pretty ones, **@TheRealFjord** ,” she typed. “Hope you are as happy together as **@JesterL** and I are.” She paused.

“Oh, and **@mollymaukery** , I love your coat.”

**Author's Note:**

> No offense is intended to Fjorester or Fjord fans!! Also if someone has used the usernames I totally made up I'm sorry, they're not you!! 
> 
> Also: Fjord is a twunk and he steals lemons
> 
> Also no offense meant to anyone named Jessica


End file.
